Qaaf (The letter Qaaf)

31. And Paradise will be brought near to the God fearing, not far off.

32. [It will be said unto them:] “This is what you were promised - [it is] for the repentant and preservers [of Allah’s bounds],

33. “Who feared the Most Gracious [Allah] inwardly and brought a heart turned in repentance [to Him].

Piety and fear of God drive man closer to Paradise. Following a treatment of disbelievers’ state after death and blowing of the Trumpet and their arrival at Divine Tribunal and torment of Hell, the blessed Verses in question reflect the state of the God fearing.

The former shall be entangled with hardship and torment and Hell drives them toward itself and expects enthusiastically more of the people of the Hell; au contraire, the latter shall proceed toward Paradise.

“Not far off”

may reflect that Paradise shall not be far away from the God fearing, but it is in their inward natural disposition manifesting itself on the Day of Resurrection. The antecedent of the demonstrative pronoun ‘this’ in the blessed Verse 32 is Paradise promised to whoever turned from disbelief and polytheism to monotheism and abstained from committing what was forbidden.

Such people fear God in their hearts without perceiving the same with their outward senses and live in such state at all times;

(“Who feared the Most Gracious [Allah] inwardly and brought a heart turned in repentance [to Him]”).

Paradise shall become closer to those who enter Resurrection with pure hearts turned from people toward the Truth. The people of Paradise as mentioned in the blessed Verses in question possess four characteristics.

Firstly, they fear God Almighty and as mentioned elsewhere, fear of God Almighty is higher in degree than faith the relation between the twain is that of inclusion; in other words, the God fearing have faith, but some of the faithful may lack fear of God Almighty.

Thus, fear of God Almighty stands above faith in matters of degrees. Secondly, the people of Paradise are those who have returned from disobedience to Divine Command. They never commit sins willfully. Thus is the state of the God fearing.

Thirdly,

“Who feared the Most Gracious [Allah] inwardly and brought a heart turned in repentance [to Him]”

refers to those who regard their Lord as the Most Gracious, but His Glory and Grandeur overwhelms them to such degree that they fear His Wrath at all times.

Fourthly, of the attributes of the people of Paradise is that they enter Resurrection with pure hearts purified from natural impurities. They turn away from people and turn to God Almighty. The Arabic word khashiyya is applied to the fear arising from Divine Omniscience and Grandeur.

Three kinds of hearts are mentioned in the Holy Qur’an:

A. The pure heart devoid of polytheism, hypocrisy, hatred, and other vices;

(“Except him who brings to Allah a pure heart,”)1 .

B. The repentant heart repenting to God Almighty following committing sins;

(“And brought a heart turned in repentance [to Him],”)2 .

C. The sick heart entertaining hypocrisy and disbelief in God Almighty.

The sickness worsens if it is left on its own;

(“In their heart is a sickness,”)3 .